New Year, New You, New Freelancer Things to Know
This is taken from a thread of tweets I did just before New Year’s Eve. You can see that here.
There have been a lot of New Year’s resolutions popping up regarding freelancing. Much like retail, I think everyone should at least try freelancing at some point. Even if you end up going back to a full time career, the experience makes for better perspectives when working on projects. That said…
Please think about the following as you jump into freelancing as the new year starts:
1. Freelance is running a small business. Are you prepared for that? Setting up the proper forms, taxes, invoicing, all that goes into that. It’s a lot more than proclaiming, “I’m a freelancer now!”
2. In my experience, and talking with others, Jan-Mar most years are slow. Make sure you have money in the bank to get through the slow times. Especially if you are kicking off freelancing during these months. Know most everyone will probably be having a hard time during these three months, too. You’re not alone.
3. There are days when you’re not doing creative and only focusing on business. Does that sound terrible to you? If you’re getting into it so you can be the artist you always wanted, that’s a fantastic goal, but you’re going to have business days. You’re also going to have jobs that don’t always align with your creative drive just to pay the bills. It’s okay to take those on as long as it doesn’t turn you away from your mountain. As Neil Gaiman says, as long as you can still see the mountain, you’re going to be alright.
4. Confidence is king. Clients can smell fear or lack of confidence and will move on to someone else or walk all over you. You gotta peacock it a bit. Stand up for yourself when invoices aren’t paid on time. Speak up when the creative direction could be better with your ideas.
5. You have to have some experience. Yes, there are gods among us that have never worked in a studio, went right into freelancing and are successful. It👏🏼is👏🏼rare👏🏼. From client interaction to pipelines, you’re going to have it rough if you’ve never been apart of any of that.
6. Know your worth. Not just what you need to charge, but are you worth charging that much?If what you’re worth and what you need to live don’t line up, figure out how to make those align. You could calculate you need to charge $1k/day, but your work says you’re worth $450/day. Do you need to pay off some debt first before jumping into freelance so you can afford a lower day rate? Do you need to work on some personal projects so you can show you’re worth more?
7. Don’t do it alone. Find a friend or friends you can lean on and you feel comfortable venting too. My friend Mark Cernosia and I probably on average Zoom at least once or twice a week about shit. Personal and professional. If you’re a motion designer, the Mograph community is amazing. Utilize it. I said it once already: know you’re not alone. Find your people to support you through this.
8. It’s okay for you to feel like you’re failing. It took until my third year to really get used to this rollercoaster and even so, the ride continues to change each year. There are days I feel amazing and days I hate everything about freelancing and feel like a failure. There are days I sit in my office starring at a wall thinking I should just start a law cutting service. Then the next day I get sign off on a new job and feel like I should be the fucking President, dammit.
9. As much as you’re running a small business, don’t lose your life to it. I hear about so many people who destroy themselves and their lives by working ridiculous hours. Set up those boundaries early on and stick to them. Work 8–4, 9–5, whatever is healthy for you. Make sure to keep your outside relationships a priority. Go to the gym. Play video games. Have a D&D night. Life speeds up a ton when you’re a freelancer and you don’t keep these other things a priority, and one day you blink, and boom, it’s been five years.
I’m going to wrap this up with another Neil Gaiman quote:
A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in a bottle, on a dessert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it, and put something back in a bottle that will wash its way back to you.”
